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The Dartmouth Softball team will blog during its Spring Break trip to Florida.

Courtesy: Mark Washburn

Softball Spring Break Blog

Dartmouth

3-17-2013

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Softball Spring Break Trip Blog

Follow along as the Dartmouth softball team blogs its way across the Sunshine State during its annual spring break trip. Big Green players will share stories and photos from the trip so make sure to check in on DartmouthSports.com each day to see what the Big Green are up to in Florida.

Day 1: Welcome To Florida

We had a long and tiring but successful first day in Florida! Our "morning" began at 4am when we met outside the locker room to load the bus and make sure all the equipment was packed. After a sleep-inducing bus ride to Manchester, we made it through the crowded lines and past security without a hitch.

Luckily, we had a direct flight into Tampa and arrived around 10 a.m. After finding a Starbucks at baggage claim, we re-energized and headed to lunch. We excitedly returned to our perennial favorite, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, but were disappointed to find that they discontinued our favorite sandwich: grilled flatbread with peanut butter, granola, banana and honey. The quality Blimey Limey smoothies made up for it though. Then we checked into the hotel and most of us napped before our opening game. After a quick PB&J+fruit snack break by the hotel pool, we headed to the complex to play Robert Morris.

Our first and only game of the day started and ended strong for us. Slightly exhausted from waking up early for our long day of traveling, we were able to refocus on the game and pull out the W. Rums pitched a full game against the Colonials as both teams battled throughout the full seven innings. It was 0-0 until the 4th inning when Morgan McCalmon got on base and began the string of hits that led us to scoring three consecutive runs. We held the Colonials to a 3-0 ball game and prevailed as the winning team!

After the game we headed to one of our favorite eateries for dinner, Chipotle. Katie Adams in a flurry of excitement and hunger tripped over a curb and into a sharp bush while trying to get in through the back door. In line she made a mess with her oozing blood from her tumble. Napkins were needed. After backing up the line as well as ordering just about all the food Chipotle had, we all relaxed and ate to our heart's content. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel for our postgame team meeting, and then headed off to our rooms, anxiously awaiting the moment our heads could hit our pillows for a good night's rest after a long, successful day.

The day started a little slow for the Big Green after the post-finals adrenaline wore off. However, by the 6th inning, our bats finally joined the game, stringing some hits together, but it was too little too late. After a fortifying meal and a two-hour retreat in the shade, the Green had all the rest they needed to push through the final game of the day against Quinnipiac. Luckily the bats were hot, making up for some mathematical mistakes regarding outs and pitch counts. Kristen Rumley pitched a shutout and Morgan McCalmon helped the offense with a clutch home run. The Big Green pulled away with a 4-0 win. Starved and exhausted, made a quick pit stop at the hotel to get some much needed ice and then headed to Panera. After waiting impatiently for dinner, the Big Green scarfed down their meals and headed back to the hotel. It was a very early night for most and some even passed out by 8:30 (Katie Miller, I'm looking at you.) Tomorrow the team takes on Liberty and Maryland in the final two games of the tournament.

Today we have to leave this oasis of a hotel and travel across the sunshine state. After a relaxed morning around the hotel, we enjoyed a traditional pregame meal at Panera Bread.

We then began our LONG trek in the minis towards Fort Myers. In order to make our own fun, we worked on our relays in the parking lot of the gas station while the coaches were filling up.

We then began a wild goose chase to find a sandwich shop for lunch. Coach Hanson is always the leader of the pack so the vans followed her nose to nose trying to find a Quiznos. After driving 20 miles out of the way, the restaurant was no longer open for business. We then settled for Subway. We began to run behind schedule on game day so we inhaled our lunch.

Arriving to the cages dressed and ready, we prepared for warm ups and the game against FGCU in record timing. There was definitely a large crowd in the stands because the entire state of Florida came out to support Brianna Lohmann and the Big Green! After a great team performance, we dropped the game in extra innings 3-2.

After the game we headed to Jason's Deli which pleased our Texas folks!!! How can anyone pass up the amazing salad bar and ice cream?

Continuing in our cluster of caravans, the coaches needed to make a pit stop at Starbucks. They said it was so that they could stay awake for the 3 hour drive ahead of them. After finishing the post game scouting reports while on the road, one van slept, one watched a movie and one van played multiple games in order to help their drivers stay awake.

After a long day of travel and games, we safely found our hotel in Boca Raton and fell sound asleep and dreamt the night away.

Upon our long journey through Florida, our Spring Break trip has finally come to an end, so we thought we would send everyone off with some superlatives to mark the end of a great great week! So here goes…

Most Likely to be in a Tornado and not know it is even happening....Katie McEachern

Most likely to fail her last term on purpose in order to stay another year....Katie Adams

Most likely to die from a heart attack from eating too much bacon....Katie Adams

Most likely to be the next star to TLC's "18 Kid's and Counting"....Britta McOmber

Today was yet another beautiful day in Florida, though the ending is looming near as we pack up and head home tomorrow. A beautiful sunrise welcomed the team as we started Saturday morning with a (relatively) early 7:00 am wake-up call. After a breakfast of hearty bacon and hotel coffee we headed for the fields for back-to-back games against Elon and Bethune-Cookman.

The coffee proved to be a quite necessary as the Big Green beat Elon in nine innings, taking advantage of the International Tie Breaker rule, timely hitting, and a RECORD BREAKING performance from the cool Texan in the circle. Rums had 15 strikeouts, a new school record, throwing the complete game. Of course, nobody realized it until after both games, and, as per usual, Rums was very casual in learning that her name would be going down in Dartmouth athletic history.

The second game was a battle throughout, though unfortunately we were on the losing end this time. Morgan McCalmon pitched a fantastic game, shutting out Bethune-Cookman (hey, they looked familiar…) after the first inning. Kelsey Miller was a perfect 3 for 3, just a measly home run shy of matching fellow freshman Katie McEachern’s hitting for the cycle performance the day before.

Now, enough about softball. We had the honor of being invited to Kathy Dzienkowski’s babcia’s (grandma in Polish) house for dinner! All of the families were invited, Kathy’s dad slaved over a beautiful brisket, and we all stuffed ourselves silly. It was fantastic to just relax and enjoy time with all of the wonderfully supportive family and friends that have braved the beautiful sunshine and 80 degree weather to watch us play. Be sure to check out the Dartmouth Softball Facebook page for some gem photos of players and family (though some not so good ones made the cut too… thanks for that Vanover). After a wonderful evening thanks to our generous hosts (thanks again Dzienkowski’s and Babcia!) we retired back to the hotel for an early night, and possibly some quick hot tub action (what up Kara).

Bellies full and already dreaming of brisket (maybe that’s just me), we reluctantly go to bed tonight knowing it’s the last one in Florida. Tomorrow morning we will rematch FAU before we make the trek back up to the Northeast. But for now, we are going to enjoy the last hours of warm weather, softball, and no school!